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Can I stop menstruation from continuing?

My LO is 4 months old and has always been a small girl. She was born 6lb 5oz and is now about 10.5 pounds. Doctors aren't concerned, but I'm always doing what I can to keep my supply up and help her gain.

The other night I had some spotting that hasn't turned into a full blown period yet. However, it was accompanied by some PMS-like symptoms (acne, mood swings, very mild cramps). I'm really concerned because I've heard it can cause a dip in supply. My question is this: if I wake her an extra time in the night, might I be able to increase my prolactin levels enough that it doesn't trigger my body to menstruate in the near future? As of now, she tends to eat around 9pm and then I wake her at about 2:30 or 3am and again at 6am to nurse. If I didn't wake her, she'd probably sleep through the night.

For some background, BFing has been a challenge and we are just now getting to a point where she gets almost all of her milk directly from the breast. I've had to work to keep up my supply, including pumping after every feeding and taking a variety of things.

Re: Can I stop menstruation from continuing?

Hi Marie13. I am afraid I have no idea if an additional nursing session will stop your cycle from coming back at this point. However I would like to reassure you that any dip in production around mom's period, due to hormonal changes, is usually very temporary.

Mom having her fertility return "early"-prior to the starting of solids, for example, is sometimes an indication that baby has not been nursing with high frequency, and THAT -the less frequent nursing-will possibly lead to low production.

And the reverse is also true of course-more frequent nursing sessions are helpful in "upping" production.

So if you want to try to nurse more often overall, in order to help increase production, that makes sense. I just don't know if it would do anything to stop the return of your period.

Are you taking any precautions against pregnancy? Because pregnancy will almost certainly seriously harm production. Because you have struggled with low production you probably want to avoid hormonal contraceptives if there is another viable alternative for you.

Also if you are using any "baby sleep aids" -nightime pacifier, nightime swaddling, or baby sleeping in another room from you, those may is some cases cause baby to sleep longer and nurse less than baby would otherwise. "Large" bedtime bottles may do the same.

Re: Can I stop menstruation from continuing?

Re: Can I stop menstruation from continuing?

Thanks, ladies. My girl had a posterior tongue tie corrected at 9 weeks at which time I discovered my supply had dwindled. I started pumping 8-9 times a day and got my supply up. We went from bottles to an SNS to now the breast and I'm slowly weaning off the pump. She's been nursing more than ever and seems to be going through another growth spurt of her own. I try to offer the breast every hour or two. Seems like I'm nursing often during the day and every 3 hours at night, though maybe that's still not enough?

Alas. Still no full-blown period after that one night of spotting. Could that still count as a period at this stage (4 months pp)?